


Under the Sea we off the Hook

by littlemissy106



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fishing, Injury, M/M, Merpeople, fisherman!zayn, merman!niall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-14
Updated: 2013-10-14
Packaged: 2017-12-29 08:56:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1003464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlemissy106/pseuds/littlemissy106
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn’s heard the old fisherman getting drunk and telling stories about seeing mermaids out in the sea, but he’s never put much stock into it. There just old men trying to relive their glory days. As far as Zayn is concerned if there was any other way to support his family he’d never go out fishing again, but there isn’t and he has to, so he does. Everyday he goes out on the small boat that was the only thing that his dad left him when he died and prays that he’ll catch enough to put food on the table and pay the bills.</p>
<p>So he’s never seen a mermaid, and he doesn’t expect he ever will. That all changes the day he catches Niall.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under the Sea we off the Hook

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: title from "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid

Zayn’s breath clouded in the cold Atlantic wind as the tiny fishing boat that he was on rocked back and forth in the rough surf.  He pulled his thick rubber coat tighter around his body and rubbed his hands together, blowing out his breath across his tired fingers.

He’d been out on the boat since early in the morning and the fruits of his labor were chilling in the fish crate in the floor of the boat. He had just dropped his last long line for the day about an hour ago and he figured he could pretty well pull it up and see if he had any last minute additions to his catch for the day.

Just as he was moving to start reeling in the line the fishing line went taught and jerked so hard that it caused the bow of the boat to rise in the air and come down with a heavy splash, nearly sending Zayn to the floor.

In alarm Zayn frantically lurched over to the reel and started pulling in the line, determined not to lose what felt like an enormous catch. It might even be enough to buy Saffaa those new shoes she had been eyeing longingly in the front display of Parson’s. Her own were getting thin and had holes developing along the sole, soon the winter would come with its freezing temperatures and Zayn really wanted to be able to get her some shoes that would keep her feet nice and warm.

The water began to froth violently and the line stretched so thin that Zayn feared it would break before he could get the fish into the boat. His hands strained to grip onto the reel and his arms shook with the effort of rotating the handle. Finally the tip of a brilliant blue tail broke the surface, still thrashing violently and stirring up the water into a foaming broth.

Zayn sucked in a sharp gasp and his honey-brown eyes widened as the rest of the tail came into view. From tip to tip it looked like it was three feet wide and was made of a thin ribbed skin that was a brilliant turquoise. He had never seen such an enormous tail, nor one so brilliantly colored. He had no idea what it could belong to. The only fish that he had ever heard of reaching this size was tuna, but one of those massive creatures hadn’t been caught off of the coast in years.

Inch by painful inch the line shortened and a sleek body resembling the shape of a dolphin began to appear where the sleek skin of the tail ended, trailing into closely laid scales of a slightly darker hue then the tail.

Just as the line was nearing its end there was suddenly a hollow thudding sound accompanied by a sharp rock in the motion in the boat, and then the fish abruptly stopped thrashing. Its tail went limp and Zayn grunted at the sudden dip in tension on the line.

Grateful for the reprieve he finished reeling in the line, wincing when he caught a glimpse of where the fishing line was wrapped several times around the base of the tail, cutting sharply into the flesh and hooks buried deeply between scales so that thin streams of blood trailed down the shiny scales and tinged the froth pink.

He hated this part of fishing, it always made his heart beat painfully when he watched a creature suffer, but if it was a choice between killing some fish and watching his family starve he would gladly sacrifice the fish. That didn’t mean he enjoyed watching them suffer though.

Shaking off the initial pang of pity he rushed over to the edge of the boat, eager to see the catch that might bring him enough money to buy new shoes not just for Saffaa, but for the rest of the family as well.

His eyes ran down the sleek, scaled body that gradually widened until it disappeared under the surface of the water. He squinted to see past the murky glare of the water and his breath left him in a rush as his eyes focused on where the scales faded into a pale, creamy skin and a wiry upper body that clearly did not belong to a fish. He couldn’t see much of the head accept for a halo of blonde hair that floated gently in the current of the water.

In an instant Zayn was shucking off his coat and jumping over the side of the boat, reacting instinctively as he dove down and wrapped his arms around the chest of the man – boy –creature and hauling it back to the surface. His head broke into the ocean air and he gasped in a deep breath. His hand scrambled frantically at the pocket in his cargo shorts where he kept his pocket knife.

He carefully maneuvered the boy’s head so that it rested on his shoulder while he pulled the knife out of his pocket and flipped it open from its black plastic casing, easily reaching up and cutting the fishing line with one quick flick of the sharp blade. The boy’s tail fell into the water with a giant splash, sending a mouthful of nasty salty ocean water pouring down Zayn’s throat.

He coughed sharply, spitting out the sea water in his mouth and struggling to paddle over to the back of the boat, dragging the limp body behind himself.

The waves swamped over his head, pressing his short black hair flat to his head and making his eyelashes clump together uncomfortably. His clothes dragged him down and his heart pounded furiously as he finally struggled over to the boat, grabbing on desperately with one hand.

He clambered onto the back of the boat and turned around, heaving the body up with him, and thanking god that he had installed the small footstep on the back of the boat a week ago. He never would have been able to get back in without it.

With a huff of exertion he slowly lowered the boy/fish onto the floor of the boat, wincing as its head flopped to the floor with a thud, blood trickling across its forehead from where it must have hit its head on the bottom of the boat.

His eyes caught on the boy’s neck just as he focused on settling the boy into a more comfortable position. He sucked in a breath and his eyes widened as he watched three sets of parallel lines on either side of the boy’s throat slowly closed up, fading until the skin was unblemished.

For a moment he sat frozen as his mind supplied the answer. _Gills. He had just watched the boy’s gills close up. Holy fuck this was a mermaid. There was a mermaid – no wait – merman? A merman in his boat. He had a caught a merman. Holy shit he was going crazy. Off his rocker. Straight to the loony bin._

His internal freak out was cut short by a soft groan that had him scrambling back from the merman until his back is pressed against the side of the boat.

He watched as the boy’s hand came up to rub roughly at his eyes before a jagged, “What the hell?” was uttered.

The boy’s head slowly moved around as he took in his surroundings, until his eyes fastened on Zayn, who froze as he was scrutinized by the most brilliant pair of sea blue eyes that he had ever seen.

For a moment nothing was said before the merman suddenly tried to sit up, arms pressing against the floor of the boat and stomach muscles clenching tightly (which Zayn definitely didn’t notice because this is a _merman_ for Christ’s sake, he should not be attracted to a merman), but he only made it halfway up before his tail jerked against the side of the boat and the merman let out a pained groan, falling back onto the floor and breathing heavily.

Slowly Zayn moved towards the merman’s tail, intent on trying to unwind the fishing line and hooks, after all it was his fault that the merman was hurt at all, but before he could get closer than a couple of feet the merman jerked into motion, his lower body flailing and flopping as he pulled himself roughly into a seated position with his hands clenching the edges of the boat harshly.

“Don’t – don’t touch – me,” the merman snarled between heaving, pained breaths. The movement had cause some of the hooks to dig in deeper and wrapped the line tighter around his tail so that there was a growing puddle of bloody water collecting underneath him.

Zayn had frozen the instant the merman started moving, and he eyed the creature fearfully for a moment, but eventually the almost palpable feeling of pain emanating from the merman had him holding out his hands in a gesture of peace and slowly inching forward again, this time while murmuring, “I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to take off the line and try and get the bleeding to stop.”

“Why would you do that? You’re the one that did this to me. Don’t you want to capture me? Sell me to some exotic museum for ludicrous amounts of money? Or maybe you want to kill me and take my scales? Is that? That why you’ve dragged me up here?” The merman spat in response, arms trembling as he attempted to lift himself over the side of the boat, but his arms were too weak to do the job and he fell back into the boat with a thud that had the small craft rocking back and forth.

The rocking sent a splash of blood running over Zayn’s boots, which were already soaked and it’s not until then that he registers that he’s absolutely freezing, with his soaked clothes. He knows that he won’t last long out here soaked and freezing, but he also can’t bring himself to leave the creature in pain, especially pain that he caused.

“Please I didn’t mean to catch you. I don’t want to sell you. I’m just a fisherman. Honestly it was just an accident. Please let me help you,” he begged, slowly inching forward until he was within touching distance of the great fin that was splayed out across the dark rubber matting on the floor.

“Oh sure, total accident,” the merman sneered, eyes narrowed in distrust, but his tail only twitched when Zayn gently set his fingers on the scales just above where the fishing line started. The scales were surprisingly soft under Zayn’s touch, forming gently to his fingertips and rippling whenever he moved his hand.

For a moment he was captivated with the sensation of the scales under his hands, but he was quickly brought back to the present when one of his fingers strayed into a cut made by the fishing line and the merman breathed in sharply.

“Sorry,” he muttered, glancing up nervously at the merman who had a pained grimace on his face. “This is probably going to hurt.”

“It already does asshole,” the creature retorted, fingers digging sharply into the palms of its hands.

“Right well- I’ll just,” Zayn chuckled nervously as he reached out and grabbed his pocket knife to start cutting off the fishing line.

He started to bring the knife towards the merman’s tail, but was stopped by a rough slap to the face from the tail that sent him reeling back several feet and left a sharp fishy smell clinging to his face. For a moment he sat on the floor stunned with his ears ringing slightly before he shook off the impact and glanced irritated at the smirking merman.

“What was that for?!”

“Like I’m gonna let the guy who wrapped a fishing line and multiple sharply barbed hooks around my tail and then dragged me out of the water get anywhere near me with a knife,” the merman rolled his eyes, arms crossed against his chest.

“Well how else do you expect me to cut the line?”

The creature drew itself up, glaring at Zayn for a moment before turning his head away and letting out an irritated huff.

Without another word Zayn knelt back down and proceeded to cut through the fishing line in strategic places, all the while listening to the merman’s continuous string of muttered insults and curses that could put many of the men at the docks to shame.

Before he can peel off the line he has to dig out several of the large hooks that were intended for a tuna’s mouth, not the fleshy part of a tail. The barbed ends are deeply imbedded in the tissue and it’s a struggle to wiggle the hooks free without tearing at the holes in the merman’s tail.

By the time he’s done removing the hooks the merman had stopped muttering, reduced to heaving breaths and little repressed whimpers and groans. Zayn took a moment to take stock of the amount of damage done and the results have him wincing sympathetically. A three inch band of flesh just above the merman’s tail is ripped and covered in deep cuts that are bleeding sluggishly.

He reached behind himself, fingers fumbling in one of the storage cabinets along the side of the boat and pulled out the small medical kit that he kept for emergencies, rooting around through the various supplies and pulling out rubbing alcohol and bandages.

As soon as he opened the bottle of alcohol the merman’s nose wrinkled and his eyes squinted up for a moment before he let out a sharp sneeze.

“What the hell is that,” the creature asked, covering his mouth and nose with a thin hand.

“Rubbing alcohol. You know, so you don’t get an infection or anything,” Zayn explained, pouring out some of pungent liquid onto the cleanest rag that he can find.

He reached out and tried to press the cloth to some of the numerous cuts marring the merman’s tail, but the creature immediately protested.

“Whoa hold on. No need for that. I won’t get an infection. Look I’m already starting to heal,” he said, gesturing with a free hand to his tail.

Zayn eyed the merman suspiciously for a moment before leaning forward and gently cupping the creature’s tail just under the injured area. At first glance the thin cuts and puncture wounds looked just as bad as when he had first removed the line, but even as he watched the flow of blood seemed to slow and some of the thinner cuts narrowed, the skin slowly knitting back together and leaving only thin white scars behind.

“How….?” Zayn looked up in shock to see the merman watching him nervously.

“I – it’s a merman thing. We heal fast,” the creature answered hesitantly, obviously unsure about how much to tell Zayn.

“Right a….merman thing,” Zayn let out a laugh and sat down on the floor of boat with a wet plop. He was silent for a moment before another chuckle breaks from his lips and before long he’s splayed out along the side of the boat laughing so hard that his ribs begin to ache.

Finally he reined in his laughter and looked back at the merman to find him staring at him like he’s crazy.

“Sorry mate. I just, merman’s? Really? How is this my life? How do you even exist?”

“How do I exist? What the hell kind of question is that. How do I exist. Just so you know merpeople have been around just as long as human’s. We’re just not as arrogant and obnoxious and ‘we own the planet and everything on it’. And my name’s not mate. It’s Niall.”

Zayn blinked in response and was about to respond to the merman’s, to Niall’s, snarky remarks when the boat’s radio crackled to life.

_“A storm warning as just been issued for the area surrounding Cape Elizabeth. Advise that all small vessels return to port. Storm coming in from the SouthEast.”_

Zayn immediately pivoted his head towards the southeast, cursing at the bank of dark clouds that he sees on the horizon.

“Look I have to go. This boat won’t survive a storm. Do you –“

“Just get me into the water. I’ll be fine to swim now,” Niall interrupted him, nervously following Zayn’s eyes and taking in the approaching storm along with the tan boy.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay? Even with the storm? I could try and –“

“Just get me into the water. Please?”

Zayn sucked in a breath at the wide eyed look that Niall shot at him. For the first time he could see how scared the merman was. With a nod of understanding he moved forward and crouched down. For a moment he paused with his hands outstretched.

“May I?” he asked quietly, sliding his hands under Niall’s back and the bend in his tail when he got the merman’s nod of approval. His cheeks blushed at the intimate position as he strained to lift the merman high enough to get him over the edge of the boat. His muscles burned under the extra weight, but the long days hauling in fish and toting around heavy equipment made the task doable.

Niall’s hand flew up to wrap in the wet shirt that clung to Zayn’s chest as he moved over to the edge of the boat.

The dark-haired boy sucked in a sharp breath as he looked down to find Niall’s blue eyes staring up at him with just a hint of admiration, but as soon as the blonde noticed his gaze he turned his eyes away, staring instead at the water as Zayn slowly lowered him tail-first into the frothy Atlantic ocean water.

With a wriggle the merman slipped out of Zayn’s grasp and flopped into the water, sending ripples through the top of the water.

Zayn heart stopped when Niall disappeared under the water and he started to panic when the blonde failed to reappear after several minutes. What if he had gone back to soon? What if his tail was still hurt and he couldn’t swim?

Just as Zayn was about to leap back into the freezing water Niall’s head popped up a couple of feet away from the edge of the boat.

His hair was pressed flat to his head and water droplets slid down the side of his face and throat before merging with the rest of the water. He silently regarded Zayn for several seconds before calling out, “See you later fisherman,” and arching back under the water.

The last glimpse that Zayn got of him was his brilliant blue tail rising gracefully out of the water, glinting softly in the fading sun, and slipping silently back into the sea.

Merpeople? What had Zayn gotten himself into?


End file.
